LaRose, Spicer, The Odd Couple?

State Sen. Frank LaRose, Hudson Republican running for secretary of state, has what he calls an “exciting announcement” on Facebook: “My 4th annual D. C. event [read fundraiser] will feature special guest Sean Spicer. There is still time to join our host committee.”

Sean Spicer? The same guy who is in the midst of shaking down his staff for leaks and ordering them to turn in their telephones for spot checks? The same guy who repeats President Trump’s lies at the press briefings from which the New York Times, CNN and other news agencies are now barred? Yep, Exciting, huh? What can go wrong?

The report, reviewed at length by Plunderbund, is interesting because the Spicer factor has shot one across the bow of any other
Republican thinking about the secretary of state’s job and placed LaRose in a comfy position with the Trumpeters in a state that the president already owns politically while the senator insists he is the moderate in the room who has been preaching civility in discourse. Having Spicer as his special megaphone now, we can’t imagine how bountiful that will be in 2018. It is called money and influence in the Ohio Trump Party in a perilous game of Russian roulette with Putin et al.

Dig a little deeper and it would be a logical bet that the intersection of “moderate” and Mad Donald could be traced to the new Ohio party chairman, Jane Timken , a solid ally of Trump, has arranged the coming out party for LaRose. (LaRose is too far down the ladder to cut into
Spicer’s valuable time on his own.) She’s rich and influential. She knocked off Gov Kasich’s sitting chairman, Matt Borges, to assert her hegemony over the GOP Movables. There will be more as the campaigns move along for the other statewide candidates in 2018.

For now, the most active aide is Treasurer Josh Mandel, who is seeking the U.S senate seat as Trump Jr. He boasts that he’s organized in all 88 Ohio Counties and will be be loaded with campaign cash to again challenge Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. Mandel, a Trump surrogate, leaves no doubt that Ohio belongs in the Trump party and vigorously supports the president’s calls for public safety against those immigrants.

Secretary of State? That has enormous appeal to the new regime after years of tinkering by previous Republican secretaries that has effectively joined gerrymandering to suppress the vote

Sen. LaRose, I’m not into civility these days. But if you had really wanted some excitement, you should have invited Melissa McCarthy instead.